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Product cover image for Best Buy's Corie Barry: Confronting the COVID-19 Pandemic

Best Buy's Corie Barry: Confronting the COVID-19 Pandemic

George, William W.; Migdal, Amram

Product #:321073
Supplier:Harvard Business School
Discipline:General Management
Setting:Minnesota;North America;United States, 2020
Details:Case (PDF) • 27 pages • 2021-01-12 (Rev: 2022-04-29)

Subjects:

Business communicationBusiness ethicsBusiness lawCash flowChange managementCorporate governanceCrisis managementDecision makingExecutive compensationHuman capitalInnovationInventionsJob searchLeadership developmentLeadership stylesLiquidityManagementOutsourcingStrategic planningTerminationManaging yourselfBusiness law and ethicsCorporate financeStrategyBusiness managementDecision making and problem solvingCompensation and benefitsLaborCareersLeadershipLeadership and managing peopleHuman resource managementStrategy formulationLeadership and managing peopleManagement

Industries:

Goods, trade, and consumer services

Geography:

MinnesotaNorth AmericaUnited States
Your Price:$11.64

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This case examines the leadership of Corie Barry, the new CEO of Best Buy, with a focus on actions the company took in 2020 to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. The case includes a history of Best Buy's strategy and leadership, including the transitions between the company's founder and the subsequent four CEOs. In particular, the career trajectory of CEO Corie Barry is described in detail. Regarding Best Buy's response to COVID-19, the case details the company's scenario planning and operational adjustments, including the temporary closure of all stores followed by the rapid establishment of curbside-pickup customer-order-fulfillment operations at roughly 1,000 store locations in the U.S. The case also attends to leadership's decisions to furlough more than 51,000 frontline employees, suspend in-home services, and subsequently resume in-store services under modified operating procedures.

Learning Objectives

This case focuses on how a collaborative leadership style can enable nimble and effective crisis management and response. In addition, this case allows for learning about leadership transitions and succession, as well as about how leaders' biographies and experiences shape their professional trajectories, leadership styles, and overall impact, as exemplified by the career arc of CEO Corie Barry.
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Case Study: Best Buy's Corie Barry: Confronting the COVID-19 Pandemic (English version) | Ivey Publishing